The Interference: The DoubleCross Report
by DoubleXXCross
Summary: A collection of works relating to the original fanfiction by Newbie-Spud. Take a look at a few of the ideas and scenes he inspired - and the complete madness that ensued.
1. Atlantica

**Set during:** Nights of the Cursed (Chapter 15)

**Summary:** Rewrite of Scene 2. The least of Sora's Alex-related problems rears its head.

* * *

"We're back!"

Three people reappeared in the cabin of the ship, cutting off Alex and Joumae's conversation. They stood perfectly well for a few seconds... then suddenly Sora (the speaker) fell over forward to land on his face, shocking the brunet lying against the wall. Donald and Goofy didn't look too good either, collapsing on Sora in a heap.

"A-hyuck. Jelly legs," was Goofy's only comment.

The boy on the bottom propped his head up with one hand. "Er... oops."

Alex raised an eyebrow. "Can't walk?"

"You should've come down," Sora replied, eyes basically _sparkling_ in the wavering light. "We all got our legs replaced by... I got a tail, and Donald got octopus legs, and Goofy turned into a turtle! Buuuuuut walking afterwards is a bit of a pain."

"I... can see that."

"Anyway-" and with great strength he pushed himself up, the other two slipping off onto the floor, "-we've got great news! Ariel invited us to be in their _musical_! And we get to sing and dance, and we're even helping out with on-stage effects!"

Alex groaned. "I know all that," he mumbled, getting up and beginning to walk off.

Sora hesitated, a strange look coming over his face. "...You don't like this world, do you?" he finally said. "It's... not your favourite?"

The other human shook his head. "I pretty much only did it because I can't leave things lying unfinished. I'm not a big fan of singing." He stopped in his tracks. "Wait a sec... you guys came back up really quickly..."

He whipped around and gave them all a stern look, more fitting of a mother than a teenage boy. "What is it?"

"You... don't remember?" Sora replied. This was a first. Alex was pretty much their psychic by now; to see him not knowing something was an incredibly rare occurrence. "Flounder wants this statue to give to Ariel as a present, but it's trapped in the silt and we can't get at it until we find a way to pull it out of there."

He tapped his chin for a second. "Magnet. Once we find a Magnet element, we'll be able to tug that thing out by way of force," was his reply.

"Okay!" Sora said, breaking in a grin again (although it seemed a little forced) and then walked past him to sit in his seat... in the back. First Donald, then Alex; did nobody want him to drive? And the latter was younger than him! Hmph!

Alex raised an eyebrow, and then took his driver's seat. "Lessee..."

"..._this way, we'll _dance _and we'll _play _now_..."

The sound drifted past him, and he looked back. Sora was staring out of the dome, looking back at Atlantica with a slightly disgruntled look about him.

"_It's _very easy_, come on in, just _take a chance_ and shake a fin_..."

...He didn't seem happy... How was he gonna make this up later?

* * *

**A/N: **He made up with pirates.


	2. Invasion

**Set during:** The First Day (Chapter 1)

**Summary:** Christmas 2009 Short 1 - in the morning, Axel wanders around town for the third time and realises something is wrong.

* * *

"Today I just feel like something funny's happened," Axel mused, walking into the square.

Axel sometimes just liked to muse aloud. While he was an individual who enjoyed being… well, individual, he hated there not being another voice; especially recently, after the last few weeks. He'd gotten so used to at least having somebody there, even if he didn't listen, that the world just seemed empty.

But the 'empty' he felt today was markedly different from the 'empty' of yesterday. The 'empty' of yesterday had been completely invisible, and he'd been used to it, ultimately. The 'empty' of today was encompassing, as if the word was a misnomer.

He shoved his hands in his pockets and kept walking. "What is this feeling…?" The air felt a little funny. Heavy. And the ground felt a little tough and uneven. And he swore his coat was scraping into his skin a bit. He probably should have picked out some better clothes – a haramaki was not suitable attire under a thick full-body leather coat.

But it hadn't bothered him earlier – or, at least, certainly not yesterday – and it was a bit hard to blame it all on his imagination. He only used his when planning. He didn't dare think of anything else; much too risky.

Few people were walking around at this hour. They gave him no mind. A couple of days ago, when the incident had happened, he'd said screw it to hiding and just barged straight into the train station, acting like he'd just come over by train. The shocks were done and dealt with. It was fine now. He was as good as incognito –the only threats in the town were Heartless and Nobodies. He didn't resemble either, and though some had picked out a bunch of black-coated people walking around in the past year, the older generation would probably think of it as just some new fashion trend.

He'd tracked him down to here… Now it was just time to find out where and how they were hiding Roxas.

His gloved fingers brushed the envelope, and he tugged it out a little to glance at it. The shape of its contents was all too visible. He'd need a thicker one before the thing ripped out of it by accident.

A moving door in the corner of his vision distracted him for a second, and he dodged up to a random roof in a black mess before anything could catch him from behind (never knew when an Organisation member would drop in to take him home). The top of the green building was nice and flat, and offered a pretty good overlook of the common from where he was sitting, but more importantly people would only look up if they knew they'd have something to look at.

It seemed to have been the wind, or something, because nobody came out, and the door closed rather slowly. It was too early for most of the population to wake up; only the old man who cleaned up the rubbish really poked his head out at this time. He guessed the owners just hadn't locked the door last night.

However, this strange door was embedded in a wall Axel distinctly did not remember having either that many doors or even windows, but there they were now. Sometimes the way places liked to change shape confused him. Maybe the children had done it. He'd heard that legend himself, a long time ago, and not exactly disbelieved it.

…Never mind all this, though – he could nearly smell XIII. He had to be somewhere close…

A thought struck him, and he whipped around to stare at the hole in the wall. Beyond there was an abandoned mansion. Funny, that sounded just like the place to start…

Reaching the place was not an easy task. The forest was slightly difficult to navigate if one wasn't holding a map, and Axel had forgotten his when he appeared here a couple of days ago.

A quick smirk crossed his face as he simply teleported himself straight through the wall surrounding the wrecked courtyard. There may have once been pedestals here, and possibly arches over the top, but the building was so old and photographs showed it decrepit from the earliest records. The wrought iron gate was sealed shut. Normal people wouldn't be able to get in.

Maybe Roxas would've made it, and maybe one other person they couldn't catch could try, but that seemed to be about it. A very pitiful 'it', indeed. Hadn't there been many Keyblade Masters at some point?

The doors opened with a quick kick to the centre, right underneath the handles, and he strode right into the room. He eyed the dioramas in the glass cases before looking around the stairs.

"Now what am I looking for…?" he asked himself, knowing full-well somebody probably could hear him.

Some searching of the rooms yielded nothing – a couple of treasure chests he could leave for somebody else to open, and a lot of broken furniture. Somebody had trashed up the place pretty bad.

Eventually the doors lead him to a large library, except half of the floor was missing, revealing a large lower level and a door. Axel's smirk spread into a wide grin as he hopped down with much disregard for health and safety practices and forced his way into the next room, which sat… very empty, much to his surprise. It wasn't wise to abandon a post, especially when a large computer and a huge number of monitors were just sitting there. Were the owners feeling too smart?

Or maybe they were waiting for this? Who knew? He was just standing there, looking at the one symbol and thinking, 'hey, I think I know that guy'.

The grin faded, ever so slightly, into a frown, and he traced under some of the apparent data with his index finger. "…Nine percent what…?" he mumbled under his breath, drawing back. "What's going on here…?"

His skin started itching under the edge of his coat. In frustration, he drew the hood up to cover his face, hoping that the stiff and more comfortable position would at least calm it down for a while, while going at it with his gloved fingers. Eventually he sighed, stripped the glove off and started digging his nails in.

Which hurt, a little, but not in a bad way. Still, he didn't like getting itches out of the blue. Before today it was stress. Now it was nothing.

Axel wasn't used to doing things like this, completely without warning. He was used to remembering things that triggered random motion, but this wasn't like that. It had just happened.

The air felt wrong, and his coat was making his skin itch, and every now at then he swore he saw lines running up and down the computer screen that weren't meant to be there. The computers back at the castle only did that when they were burned out, and this thing looked like it could go on for weeks unless somebody physically broke it instead.

There was a thin beam of light behind him in a tiny alcove, which pulsed quietly in time to the wavering hum of the computer's processor. He paused, and then waved his hand underneath.

"I'm gonna need a better look at this…"

Just a small distance from the light was another door, and at once he barged through into the next chamber. It was empty… perfectly void.

He studied the wall for a second, before entering the next corridor. There were a series of lily-like pods along the edge on a track, all closed, with two holding people inside. What on earth these things were was anyone's guess, so he used his and decided they were stasis pods.

The shadows of these people were a rather odd shape, and he knew he'd seen them before somewhere… A memory of Castle Oblivion came to mind. Something about a boy and his two rather odd-looking friends wandering around, and he'd helped them out in a fit of sudden loyalty to the Superior…

Of course! These two were Donald and Goofy! And the kid with them was…

Wait… if Donald and Goofy were here…

Any traces left of Axel's smile now completely vanished, and he burst through the next to see a large pod, this one more like a rose than anything. Another body floated inside it, this time a more human shape and size. The air in here felt even thicker than before, but there was no reason for it to, and once again he found himself irritated by his coat. He was rather regretting that haramaki now.

A tiny computer sat beside the pod, and when Axel moved forward he could see two characters written on the screen next another version of that symbol. Was this the nine percent?

He looked up, and watched the boy in the pod sleep for a few seconds, recognising that face of his. Though he hadn't seen Sora for a while (the boy had grown about a foot since he'd last seen him, but he'd heard good things about the combination of puberty and sleep), he'd know that face anywhere. He'd watched it change and mature over time on its other owner. Roxas' real face, the one he had seen for little under a year by now, was much too familiar to him, for a creature with no emotions to speak of, and only his memories to supply his moods.

What had happened during that mission to Castle Oblivion eleven months ago? Sora's memory had been nearly wiped clean and replaced, and Axel had needed to free the culprit to stop two of the subordinates in the middle of their uprising. From that point on, his only action had been to keep moving. Sora had disappeared while the top floor of the building came into need of some refurbishment.

Sora had disappeared here, and the only thing there could've been nine percent of was memories. From that point on it had been Roxas' turn to inherit the rest. And come to think of it, wasn't one of the rooms in the back of the castle like this?

A quick movement off to Castle Oblivion, to run through the halls and reach a room very similar to the one he had just been in, the only differences being that the place was completely clear of any pods, and that there seemed to have been three in this room, judging by the blank circles left.

Was Naminé restoring his memories here? In which case, they'd need to get hold of the thief… Roxas.

Roxas was giving all his memories back to Sora, and as far as Axel remembered he had only vowed to meet him, not join back with him. Naminé must have been doing this… but she couldn't have been the only one involved. There had to be somebody else there…

"Are you going to leave?"

The deep, deep baritone cut through the air like a well-intentioned swipe from a Dual Blade.

"What's going on here?" Axel replied, not bothering to turn around.

There was a dark chuckle. If he'd had any memories of fear he would have shivered. "The Keyblade Master is merely being restored to the way he should be." A pause. "I'd recommend returning to your fellows. Your youngest member will be no more very soon."

No more…!? "No way in hell he's going down! Not him!" he retorted, spinning around. A figure with his face in bandages, donning a long red robe and cape, stared back at him with a single amber eye on the right side of his face. "Who are you…?"

"So you aren't here on orders?"

"Of course not!"

"Interesting…" The dark figure exited the room. "Be aware you will not be able to rescue Roxas from his digital prison. There he will and should stay until Sora recovers."

And with that he swept out of view. Axel poked his head down the corridor and found himself looking at nothing but thin air and the door at the other end.

He growled, punching the white, almost-invisible wall in utter disgust. "Digital prison… What the...? Won't somebody speak straight for once!?" Flames threatened to burst from his body, but he watched it. Just about.

The floor gained a small scorch-mark, but he was sure that would clear up with just a little cleaning. Not that he cared much about the cleaning crew here anymore; just the fact that somebody was forcing Roxas to merge with Sora… it should be XIII's choice and XIII's choice alone!

Running back down the hall and through the doors, he skidded to a halt in the empty hall. A dozen thoughts had struck him, all along the lines of 'digital prison'. The pods. The computer. Everything being so out of the way. That beam of light.

The crazy grin returned to his face as he conjured up another dark portal and vanished from the building.

He reappeared in a dark alleyway somewhere south of the castle's broken path. The rain-soaked concrete glittered in the light from the heart-shaped moon above it. Once again, Axel found the bottom of his coat soaked, and silently vowed with a manic and off-kilter voice that the first thing he'd take care of once he eliminated everybody else was to invest in drains that actually did their job instead of just being there to look pretty. The fact that they didn't have any was a crime in itself.

He turned around, and looked at the plain, water-stained wall behind him. He stretched out his arm... and snapped his fingers twice. A little circular portal formed in the corner, this time with pinkish insides and a wispy white edge.

"Maybe this'll work..." he said, climbing in (the portal was a bit too small for him to get through normally) and falling over into its colourful insides.

This was what Axel assumed was meant by the term 'dark corridor' which fluttered so sweetly into his head. Not that it looked dark – a cheery blend of pastels that belonged to Twilight Town's sky was not what he had thought he'd find this way. Neither was a floor covered in Nobody symbols that disappeared as he walked over them. Maybe this was what happened when a Nobody rather than a Heartless called one up.

Shrugging, he wandered on down to the other end, a stroll that seemingly took an age, since there were no real markers on the ground. Instead he just found himself kicking his own heels as he walked.

His hand wandered into his pocket again and clutched the ice cream stick inside the envelope. If the kid hadn't given him this thing, he probably wouldn't have bothered trying. If he and Roxas were just members of the Organisation who worked together rather than friends… But then again, fate, and that little itch at the back of his head, had tied his hands that day one year ago.

He didn't believe in fate. The idea that everything you did was meant to happen, and you had no choice in matters? The only thing close to that in which he would willingly believe was that the psychopaths and the traitors tended to get their comeuppance one way or another, and that was it. But that meeting… It was like things had been set up for them to become friends.

Whatever. They'd been friends, and then Roxas had up-and-vanished one day. Told him he'd be going. Left him the ice cream stick with the word 'winner' written on it. You traded it in at the ice cream truck and got a free ice cream for it.

He didn't want to use it. It triggered a lot of memories of happy feelings that he wasn't ready to give up just yet.

At last the space came to an… end, of sorts; at least a point where the floor finished. In front of him was the other end of the corridor. Another hole about the size of his hips. Frowning, he turned around and came face to face with a number of Dusks.

He held out his hand tentatively. The creature in front of him 'blinked', before nodding. Thankful, he drew his arm back a little, frowning.

He sighed. "Alright. You guys here. I want you to help me find somebody. Err…" A quick rifle through his pockets managed to unearth a small leather book he had found on the ground just before leaving for Twilight Town a couple of days ago. Opening it, he skipped to the best page he could find and showed the Dusk a photograph.

He'd be ready to put the book back in its proper place when its proper owner came back.

"See the kid here? His name is Roxas. He's one of us." He closed the book. "I want you to go in there and find him, and then bring him back to me." The Dusk cocked its head questioningly. "Those are your orders."

The flurry of Dusk all slipped into the portal quickly, leaving Axel alone in the corridor. Tutting, he turned his back to them. "I'll be waiting, I guess."


	3. Moving

**Set during:** The First Day (Chapter 1)

**Summary:** Christmas 2009 Short 2 - Riku misses one house invasion for another.

* * *

A pair of eyes opened blearily and peered out from underneath the covers, the owner's body as still as if he had been frozen in ice. From the darkness crept out an arm, which proceeded to wave around for the next few seconds, and finally the male human being that had been asleep half a minute while ago pushed himself up out of bed, kicking off the duvet.

He brushed his silvery hair out of his eyes and crept over lazily to the mirror – a broken old thing with a huge crack splitting it into two even halves, in a brass frame – and received a nasty shock that paralysed him for another moment.

Riku had, in his early-morning haziness, forgotten what his face looked like now. From within the glass the dark, amber-eyed visage of Ansem peered rather curiously at him, wearing his stunned expression. He brought his hand up hesitantly, as if his nose was about to suddenly fall off any time now, and wiped his forehead clean of the strange, clear liquid that had gathered on it, and bit his tongue.

A quick burst of pain, and then he stretched his limbs out. Surprisingly, or maybe not, Riku was not a person who liked waking up.

He'd had little choice this time, however; the strangest dream had entered his head, full of nonsense and symbolism that he couldn't, and wouldn't, try to decode if he wanted. When he thought of it now, it was all a mess in his head.

Maybe Naminé would know what it all meant…? Maybe, or maybe not. He didn't know…

He snatched up the clothes in the corner and changed. He didn't remember having a bundle in the corner, true, nor did he remember even changing out of his robe in the first place… Ah, well. He wouldn't be surprised if she or the king had given him something different to wear, or changed him while he was asleep. And he'd kinda missed his pyjamas, and these new ones (thermals) he kinda liked. It had always been cold on the island at night, and the last time he'd been there, he'd been dressed in a sleeveless shirt.

And then swallowed by darkness, and that in itself was pretty cold. No light meant there was no warmth… He was beginning to understand why Maleficent and her lackeys tended to wear heavy clothing, even when it impeded them, or why they enjoyed using fire as a weapon.

Back on the subject of Maleficent, huh? It had been a whole year, but her influence back then had been so damaging on him that he could never forget it if he tried. The woman had given him so much power in exchanged for so much pain, to him, to other people… and especially to Sora and Kairi.

When the king had taken him in, he'd believed himself to have been dreaming. Even now it crossed his mind, that thought that everything had just been one long chain of nightmares, one after the other, and then when he woke up he and the others would all be together. His parents would be there; his mother would make him breakfast and his father would play a quick game of catch with him before heading off to work. Sora and Kairi would be working busy on the raft.

The disappointed looks on their faces (well, on Sora's face, mostly; Kairi had just decided to join them in their escapades because it'd seemed all nice and fun) when he would tell them that they were giving up on the raft were so clear in his head that it was like he'd never left the island at all, and the whole year had been an illusion.

'Illusions' brought the Organisation member Zexion to mind, however, so he'd be wary about that word after this morning. He didn't need to think about how he'd killed him.

Or maybe he hadn't… Or, again, maybe he had. The memory of Castle Oblivion was vague now, just a distant place and a name that didn't matter anymore. The past didn't matter – he was here in the now, and the now was what he'd put his efforts into.

Anywhere else, the sky would still have been black, but this place was eternally caught between the light and the darkness, as reflected by the eternally orange sky. To Riku it looked quite strange. He was used to the sky darkening at night, but the locals here probably weren't. He couldn't guess how they'd react if the patterns of the sky from back home took over the sky here.

It seemed a little depressing how the people here couldn't see the stars.

DiZ was in the computer room, tapping away at the keys. Roxas would soon wake up in his simulation; Riku supposed the bandaged man was probably fixing some bugs or something. If this was successful, the blond boy would never know he had ever been anything but a teenager growing up in Twilight Town.

However, as he walked up to the man, he slowed down, pulling his hood up. DiZ had seen his face, yes, but Riku was utterly embarrassed about it. All of those things he'd said about pushing away the darkness in his heart had been lies. He hadn't spoken much, and every time he heard his own voice he kept thinking it wasn't his own… He reached for his chair-

"Don't sit down," the man suddenly said, holding his arm up. He finished a few key-presses and stood up from the small chair. "You are to start moving."

Riku was taken aback. "Start… moving, sir?" The voice issuing from his mouth, to his horror, was much deeper than his own, and he twitched as he spoke. That voice, in particular, had been a source of nightmares for him, and he would never get used to speaking with it.

He was sure the older man's eyebrow was rising underneath the bandages and the eye-patch constructed out of old belts. Yet he merely walked past him, to the silver-hair's surprise. "Yes. In particular, I need you to go to Naminé's room for a short while. After which, you may start patrol around the area. Report anything strange to me at that time."

"…Alright…" Riku said, and made for the door. DiZ then shot an arm out and held him in place.

"I would prefer for you to use a portal, if you may," the man said. Confused, Riku complied, producing a portal and stepping back through it to the beautiful white room where Naminé lived.

The walls were covered in drawings and sketches of Sora's life; for Riku it brought many memories and gave him new insight. He could see how her talents had changed over time, from the earliest crayon drawings to her pencilled masterpieces. Some days he looked at this and wished he hadn't found out the truth about her.

Once Roxas was merged back into Sora, Naminé was going to be fused with Kairi as soon as the man in red could reach her. It was a long while to Destiny Islands by Gummi ship, and they were currently without one, though it was hoped that could be remedied. As soon as DiZ found her and did the deed, he and Riku's work would be finished.

A noise from outside caught his attention, and he strode carefully over to the window, making sure he didn't pull the curtains open too wide. His black clothing would stand out against the white fabric and he'd be caught. The mansion was meant to be empty…

It seemed to be nothing…

And then there was a loud clatter as the doors were kicked in.

If Sora had been conscious, he probably would've found it very funny that Riku with Ansem's face had jumped much more in the fashion of a creature from the king's world than normal. On the other hand, he probably would've confused Riku with Ansem's face and the real Ansem together, and have been laughing slightly more maliciously than normal before going to town on him with the Keyblade.

Pulling himself together, he went over his orders in his mind. He would patrol around the area after he… stuck around here for a while. He was to stay here.

The timing of DiZ's words had been perfect in allowing for the doors to be kicked down and somebody with a faint scent of nothingness to enter in unheeded. Much too perfect, in fact. Maybe he had anticipated it.

Sighing, he called up another dark portal and reappeared in the forest outside. It was a pity Naminé was sitting in the simulation to check any irregularities at the moment. She would've been a nice conversation partner.

The air was crisp, just like always, although today it seemed a bit heavier than usual. As he walked he noticed the leaves were falling from the trees already, still green as the day they had sprouted. The ground seemed a little wet, which to him was a little odd. It kinda reminded him of his forehead just now. Maybe they'd both had weird dreams or something.

He was starting to smell a bit, although the coat did a good job covering that up and replacing it with the sweet aroma of leather. Huh, he didn't remember smelling this way yesterday, although now he was convinced he needed a shower sooner or later. The king's unusual advice to him one day – something along the lines of 'when you start feeling guilty, take a bath, scrub all the dirt off and then take a nice soak until you feel clean' – now sounded a bit more sensible.

Through the crack in the wall and then ducking onto a tram (nobody seemed to mind his outfit, though they must have just been used to it by now), Riku rode around in the direction of the now-closed sweet shop, and did a double-take at the street. From out of nowhere a set of flats had just appeared on one wall in the common. The door in the middle didn't seem to have closed properly and was swinging around a little.

He hopped off early, much to the consternation of the passengers around him, and headed up the path to examine the open door, hands in pockets. Quite plain, except for the fact that it was very much a duplicate of the one next to it. From what he remembered, that door did lead up to some apartments around the back of an accessory shop run by a cute blond girl. But this new one next to it looked to only access the rooms directly above it…huh.

There were very few reasons for something new to just appear on a world. But for people there was only one thing he knew; the inhabitant's world might have just been destroyed.

But that apocalypse was pretty much done with it, right? Though the Heartless were still a problem, they weren't nearly as bad as they had been under Maleficent and Ansem's separate control. From what he'd heard, there hadn't been any vanished worlds in… just about the time Sora had been asleep.

Sora.

He'd just left Sora in a pod all alone while some Nobody stormed the place.

But despite his best interests, he stopped himself from moving. DiZ had made him move away from the place, and there had to be a reason for that. And among all the unlikely things that then drifted through his skull for the next moment was the theory that the Nobody wasn't going to be doing harm to Sora at all.

Which Riku considered to be pretty much rubbish, in all honestly. The Organisation's main target was Sora. Even Roxas, who had been on his way out of there, had wanted to rip the poor kid in two, and those two were practically the same person.

And yet it still held him back. Maybe it really was that. Maybe it wasn't. It was possible. But it wasn't likely. Was it best to check?

Ready to curse his own head, he headed right into Sora's room, and all thanks to the heavens, he was there and unharmed.

The floor gained a small scorch-mark, but he was sure that would clear up with just a little cleaning. Not that he should be gauging this kind of thing now, but he did do most of the chores, and he'd likely be asked to make sure that mark was gone later.

Moving on, he raised a hand to the glass petals, the only thing between the two old friends, and stared at the Keyblade Master's face. He'd grown up well for a kid who hadn't eaten or exercised in a year. Naminé's work was simply wonderful.

"I thought I'd find ya here."

He looked down at the falsetto. A small creature with a large head and two round ears looked up at him.

He smiled. "Your majesty… It's nice to see you again," he said, trying to pitch his voice up without sounding like an idiot. It kinda worked… in a dumb way.

King Mickey returned his invisible smile with a curious face. "Why are ya hidin' your face from me?" he asked. "It's not like there's anything I haven't seen under that hood, is there?"

"N-no, there isn't." Riku tensed up, though he tried his best not to show it; however, he wasn't used to the new, slightly taller body he was currently wearing, and his attempts to stop himself simply became rather obvious.

The mouse furrowed his black-furred brow. "Riku…" he said, his voice taking on an unsure tone. "Take it off."

With another bite of his tongue, he slipped the hood off to reveal his face. "I'm sorry… I don't know what happened to me," he muttered, looking away. "I guess I'm still ashamed…"

"So that's what it meant…"

"Huh?" Riku turned around. King Mickey was standing there, stroking his chin (if he'd had one, then that was where it would've been), neither smiling nor glaring. He didn't even seem let down; rather he looked as if nothing had really happened at all.

He suddenly realised he was being watched, and jumped a bit. "Oh! Pardon there, Riku. I was just thinkin' some things through." Another smile. "Nothing to worry about."

"It sounded it," he replied. "Is everything okay?"

"Things are swell, actually." At this point, however, he began to look around. "Do you… know anywhere private we can go to talk?"

The question caught him off-guard, though he silently thought something like 'I was right, haha', and he stuck his tongue out as he considered the options. "I guess… here might count. It's not like Sora's listening."

The mouse tapped a foot. "The walls have ears, don't they?"

"Not any as big as yours…"

Anybody else would have shot a nasty look at the commenter, but the king was no such person. "…We can't tell DiZ you know about this, okay? We're keepin' it a secret," King Mickey leaned in, motioning for Riku to do the same. He knelt down and tipped his head in.

"…Ya seen the houses, right? The new rooms on Market Street?" He nodded. "Well, there's a kid in one o' those rooms. He dropped in without warnin' last night, and… his presence kinda complicated things."

Riku frowned. "Complicated things? He just dropped in; how could he do that?"

The king looked around again. "This boy, Alexander, isn't meant to be here. He's actually from a world sorta beyond every single one that exists… one beyond even Gummi Space. He's… I already told ya it's complicated.

"Alexander… seems to be a new force all his own. I'm not sure about most of it, but if what I'm thinkin's right, he might just go along with Sora when he wakes up. He'll probably jump at the chance."

"He'll… jump at the chance." This was something Riku hardly believed.

"He seems to like all o' ya, after all." Once again, King Mickey wore that large, proud grin, and spoke in confusing words. It was kinda strange how somebody with such a funny voice could do that. "His heart… connected to these worlds, ya see. All o' them at once. It looks like he's really wanted to be here all his life, even though reality's told him he can't be. Getting to here from the world he comes from is completely impossible except by the way he did it."

Riku crossed his arms in more of a questioning pose than a threatening one, which was difficult when you wore the face of the man who had been trying to possess your body and destroy your heart. "You make him sound like he knows all of us, and explicitly."

Suddenly, the king looked around. "Oh, no… I've gotta leave. Sorry, Riku. I promise I'll tell ya everything real soon!" And with that he scurried off. Riku reached after him… in vain. Giving up, he looked back at the boy in the pod.

"Alexander… and Sora?"


	4. Home

**Set during:** Dearly Beloved (Chapter 43)

**Summary:** Christmas 2009 Short 3 - Sora goes home, but not everything is the same as it used to be.

* * *

The day was slowly fading away as Sora and the others made their way across to the mainland. It had been over a year since Sora had been home now, and after all this adventuring it was about time he got to see everybody again.

Alex had left just a short time ago, and they'd spent a few minutes following his departure (which was also that of Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Axel) sitting down on their famous paopu tree and discussing things which came to mind. The trio hadn't done that in months. It was about time they had done so. But now it was getting later, and it was time to retreat back to their beds… and, more importantly, their homes.

It was Kairi's boat that docked first, and she walked on with a slightly less confident stride now that she found herself on that ground. Riku appeared on the beach next, and then Sora finally stepped onto his homeland, looked around, and burst into a giant smile.

"These streets… those houses…" he muttered. "I remember all this!"

Kairi gave a small smile back to him. "It's been a while, Sora, but not that long. There's a lot that's stayed the same." Suddenly that smile began to fade. "…And a lot that's change-"

"I can't wait to go see mom again!" the caramel-haired one announced, cutting her off, and started running up the path. The only girl in the group gave Riku a disconcerted look, before heading off behind him, and while it took a few seconds for him to adjust to the sun, he followed sure enough.

Sora could only remember one time when he'd run like this – back on that long, endless road with Donald and Goofy, when they had run out of things to do and chasing the king's shorthaired mutt became the only viable option. Sure, the dog had disappeared after that, but the idea was still there. Everything was over; the only thing Sora had to do now was try to remember where his house was, and that was where he was headed.

He cut through an alleyway and finally arrived outside his home… but all was not as he'd remembered. The windows were all closed and the lights turned off which, this late in the day, just didn't happen. When he walked up to the door it was locked tight, which it had never been before now.

The Keyblade was about to appear in his hand when Kairi stopped him.

"Sora…"

He looked back at her. "I don't understand. What's going on?" he asked, thoroughly unaware of the situation. His face only showed a mild confusion.

Kairi approached the door and then ran her fingers down the frame. "I told you just now. There's a lot that's changed here."

"Like, my mom upping security a bit more?" The boy stared at her. "Why are you wearing that sad face?"

"Sora." Her tone was sharper, but not quite.

"But-"

_I think you'd better listen to her_, said a weak, but grim voice. Roxas.

The redhead took a quiet step forward. "When… when the islands were restored a year ago… I went to check up on your house. I was told that… that when you closed the door, everybody would go back to where they were meant to be. But-" Her breath hitched a little. Sora motioned for her to continue silently. "…When I opened the door… I searched everywhere, but the house was empty. There was no-one there."

Sora found himself looking down at the dirt path. No-one there… Wait, that couldn't be right. When he'd gone out to the islands, his mom had still been there, hadn't she? While he'd sneaked out the window to the boats, she'd been there cooking dinner. That… that'd been the last time he'd ever heard her voice.

Riku stirred uncomfortably next to them. "I… I've gotta check on my parents, if that's okay…" he mumbled.

"Oh? Okay." Sora looked up at him, taking in his stance. "That's fine. I… hmmm…" The flowers lining the path somehow became a lot more interesting to him than they had ever been, grabbing his attention and keeping hold of it for the next moment or two. Riku departed quickly, hair in his eyes, while Kairi still stood there.

She weaved her fingers together behind her back. "I'm so sorry…"

"…It's fine, I guess." She stared at him in total shock. Sora simply looked back at her. "I've met a lot of people who've lost somebody close to them. They mope around a lot. People tell them off for it. If you dwell on the past, you tend to make mistakes. I don't want to be that kind of person."

"Sora, it's fine for you to be upset. Your mother's gone. We don't know what happened to her." She shook her head. "It's perfectly alright to cry."

There was a pause, and then she drew him into a small hug. His arms lay at his sides for a second, as he tried to think of what to do, but then eventually wrapped around her. They stayed there like that for a short while, and then as she tried to draw back, he tightened his grip on her, pulling her back in.

He mumbled something in her ear. "I don't understand it sometimes. How you and Riku always come before my mom. I think I always thought she'd be okay and, by the time I woke up in Twilight Town, I guess I was just… used to not having her around anymore." He bit his lip. "I didn't ever think she'd…"

She was silent, simply stroking his back as he spoke, absorbing every word he said. Once he'd finished, she was finally able to let go, and she saw his face – reddened, his blue eyes glossy in the low light.

"It's not an appropriate time, but…" She held out a hand. "Would you like to have dinner at my house tonight?"

Tapping his fingers against his side, Sora nodded. "Should I bring Riku over? I haven't seen him in a while either – er, if it's okay with you."

"It's fine."

And so it was that evening that Sora found himself eating some of Kairi's famous stew with Riku. They'd had it several times before this mess had started, and it seemed that said mess had not altered her skills in anyway, which was probably a good thing. Not that Sora knew much about that; he couldn't remember eating anything in the last mo- year, and so ended up eating quite a bit.

The night started in silence. Riku had twitched several times in his seat as Kairi had brought out the pot and dished out the dinner. Her foster parents were apparently out, to give the three as much room as they needed. However, the majority of the tension broke when Sora had started talking. He talked about all the different places he'd been and the people he'd met. About all the things he'd done while looking for them.

It was almost haunting how Sora was able to distract himself from his mother's… disappearance, so easily. Whether he was doing it all on purpose or it was just part of his personality that they hadn't seen, they couldn't tell, because Sora's voice was full of wonderment and happiness.

That was why Kairi had joined in, discussing all of the things they had missed back at home. Like the start of high school, tests, homework, the mini-blitzball tournament Wakka and Tidus had set up in the park (reputedly 'a land-dweller edition for the toughest of the tough, ja?'), Selphie's new hobby this week, and other things. Sora's face lit up the way it always did when something new and interesting came up.

The spiky-haired brunet kept noticing Riku's reluctance to join in. Maybe he just didn't want to talk about where he'd been and what he'd done… Either he was embarrassed about it, or it didn't make good conversation material. It didn't matter by the end of the meal, when he finally launched into a playful argument with Sora about whether smaller Heartless fighting in numbers or larger Heartless fighting on their own were more annoying.

In contrast to their noisy eating, they parted quietly, Sora heading back to his house alone. It wasn't the first time he'd stayed out late, but it was the first time his mother wasn't going to be shouting at him for it…

He climbed in through the open window to his room – somehow, opening the door would just be a bit creepy – and turned the light on. His stuff was all over the place, nearly just the way he'd left it. The wooden boat and dolls that had previously been hanging up by the wardrobe were now on the floor, wrecked. He gave them a knowing look, before gathering the various bits and pieces off the carpet and shoving them in an empty drawer. His alarm clock had fallen too, and stopped.

_You okay there?_ Roxas asked, and Sora jumped, before he remembered that the Nobody was actually in his head.

He slumped down onto the bed. "Yeah… I'll be fine."

_You were blabbing during dinner._

"That's because I always blab during dinner," he replied, lying back. "Do you think Alex knew about this?"

A pause. _I don't think he would've told you if he did._

Sora rolled over and imagined Roxas sitting next to him: a burst of dirty-blond hair, with blue eyes and pale skin, in a small white jacket and two-tone grey jeans. He would be crossing his legs and looking up distantly – or at least, he did in Sora's head. The boy had no idea how his Nobody acted. "Why'd you think that?"

The imaginary Roxas turned his head, and it was almost like the two faces really were staring at one another, until the voice kicked in. _Because of two possible reasons. The first reason is he cares about continuity and getting things to play out the way they were meant to. You finding out about your mother from anybody other than Kairi, or earlier, could screw up the plot._

"I'm pretty sure he's achieved that with Axel anyway," was Sora's response. "He told Axel he didn't have to sacrifice himself… and if he hadn't said that, he would've faded away. Just like the others."

…_Yeah._ Roxas' voice was hushed and sad in tone. It was a few moments before he continued.

_Getting back to what we were talking about... The second reason is he cares about you, and the way you're feeling._ There was a sigh, and the imaginary Roxas tapped his fingers on the duvet. _From what I saw, he didn't seem to want to get on your bad side. Maybe he just didn't want to say it because he knew it'd upset you._

_But personally? I don't think he knew anyway._

"…Neither do I, to be honest." Sora got back up and searched through his things. All his clothes were messy, and quite a few had holes in. Looked like he'd be sleeping in his current outfit for tonight. He switched the light off again, and wandered back to the bed, pulling off the blue sheets and lying down lengthways this time.

He closed the window and locked it, before settling down to sleep… or trying. The moonlight was bothering him. Sure, it was a very real moon as an object in the night sky as opposed to a form constructed of thousands of metaphysical hearts ripped from the chests of real human beings (or as real as things got around here), but it still disturbed him.

Eventually, he just rolled over onto his front as best as he could in the narrow bed (it was too small for him, and he'd even pulled his knees up) and dragged the covers over his head in an attempt to block it all out.

It seemed he'd forgotten about the curtains.

It only felt like it had been a minute or two when he woke up the next morning, but the sun was already quite high in the sky, and the room was filled with light. Stretching, he reached out to open the curtains-

-and then recalled that not doing that had been the source of his troubles last night. Whacking himself in the head with a proclamation of 'd'oi', he slipped out of bed and carried himself down to the kitchen, having momentarily forgotten the revelation of last night.

Said revelation decided it would be best to smack him in the face. The entire house was empty except for him, and most parts of it were covered in dust. The windows were locked, making his room the only naturally lit place in the building. It was no wonder he skipped breakfast and headed out immediately.

Today's target was the islet where everything had fallen apart. He rowed across the water as fast as he could, docking quietly. He couldn't remember this place being so deserted before in his entire life. Everybody used to play here. He remembered that as clear as day.

_Everybody grew up, Sora_, Roxas reminded him. _They had a whole year to._

Sora frowned, and looked back out to the other island. Roxas was right… Everybody else out there had lived a whole other year that he hadn't. On the inside, he was only just turning fifteen. Riku, Kairi and the others had been fifteen for some time already.

But it wasn't the time to be upset right now. The boy made his way over to the tiny opening of a cave in the island that was hidden by plants. He'd visited here yesterday, sure, but not on his own, and he hadn't really concentrated on that one thing that he was looking for now.

There it was, a chalk scratching made in the corner of the cave, hidden amongst all of the others and situated between the world's Keyhole and a large root sticking out of the wall.

He smiled at the addition to it, kneeling down and trailing his fingers over it.

_She accepts your offer, I suppose_, Roxas said.

Sora turned around, thinking he'd just imagine Roxas into place again. It somehow felt so easy to do that, even though he only had a voice and a couple of meetings to work with. "Yeah, she d-…"

Behind him, a young teenage boy stood there, with swirling blond hair and bright blue eyes. Sora got up as fast as he could, gaping. This person wasn't an illusion – he was right there, in all his faint but self-generated glory.

Roxas looked himself over for a second. _Now how did this happen…?_ he asked. _It's not a corporeal form, but… _Sora glanced over at the Keyhole. The Nobody followed his line of sight, before nodding. _I guess that works._

"We're that close to the heart of a world that almost anything can happen…" the brunet mumbled in sheer disbelief. "Ansem the Wise was right."

_Alex was right, too_, Roxas pointed out.

"Yeah, but… never mind. It's not like we've lived the other version of events, is it?" Sora slumped back down, though he made sure to take the nearby rock for a seat this time. "I mean, we don't even know how much he's gone and changed."

The blond knelt in front of him like a man about to be knighted by his king, head down and eyes shadowed by his hair. _We know he saved Kairi back in Twilight Town instead of letting her be captured. We know that also let you hear my voice… I met Joumae then, didn't I? And we also know he saved Axel from certain death, and that he defeated Saïx before we got there. But anything else…_

"How much different could things have been if he hadn't been here?" Sora mused. "How many events has he twisted out of shape? How much did he influence the universe?" He scratched his head. "Probably what I'd ask if I were more philosophical."

_Well, now I'm here, get ready to start asking._ Roxas leapt to his feet. _If we could find a way to contact the King, or Yen Sid, or anybody who was made aware of how the world works, we could go and ask them how Alex Karsath changed the universe._

"…Yeah." Sora turned around to look at the Keyhole – the golden mass upon the wooden door that no-one had bothered to question at any time in the past fifteen years, or at least for the fourteen of them that Sora had been aware of. "What do you think the odds of us actually doing that are?"

Roxas grimaced. _Phenomenal_, he grunted in a strange teenager-y way that Sora had long heard of but assumed to be nothing more than a myth until the Interference had made his presence known. _If it happens, I'll be more than impress-_

"Hello?"

At that moment, Riku walked in. He was huddled over from the small tunnel's low roof. "Hey, Riku," Sora greeted him. "What's up?"

Riku furrowed his brow. "What's Roxas doing standing there?" he asked slowly.

"We're near the heart of the world. Anything can happen," was the Keyblader's response.

"…Right." The response was rather slow, and that was worrying. Normally, Riku's nerdy wit was faster than that, 'sap'-type comments and their derivatives ignored for the time being.

Sora studied him for a moment. He was still wearing the clothes he had been yesterday, the same as he himself was (they both probably needed a shower tonight). But Riku's parents were still around, weren't they? And so were a change of clothes and a clean bathroom. It wasn't like everybody had forgotten his existence. "…Haven't you been home yet, Riku?" he asked.

The silver-haired boy looked down at the floor, causing Sora to frown again. Riku was having a pretty good streak with this. "Tell me the truth."

"…I didn't feel good about going, really…" Riku walked in a little closer. "Finding out you'd just lost your mom and then being told mine were okay when you were the hero and I ended up nearly destroying everything we ever loved… After that kind of thing, I'm not exactly up to it."

Sora fidgeted with a clump of hair for a second. "Well… you should really treasure the fact that you still have them, shouldn't you?" he said.

"It's not like I deserve having them still."

Sora then did the silliest thing he could think of, and blew a raspberry to the air. Riku stepped back with a little shock, while Roxas slapped himself in the face from the embarrassment he was beginning to regret being able to feel again.

There was silence. Then Riku found himself bursting out laughing. Sora had to smile himself; Riku's moping was well-justified, but it wasn't nice to look at it. "It's a nice distraction, isn't it?"

The laughter diminished almost as quickly as it had appeared. "Distraction?"

"It takes your mind off things, laughing and talking and all that… doesn't it?" Sora's face was, for the first time in history, completely blank. "You stop thinking about it, and suddenly everything just feels much better."

"Sora-"

"Go back to your house, okay?" he said, approaching the other real boy in the room. "And when you get back, smile, and say hi to your parents, okay?"

* * *

**A/N:** Continued in _Mother of Mine_.


	5. Report

**Set during:** The Fifth Day (Chapter 5)

**Summary:** Christmas 2009 Short 4 - Nobody went looking for the reports.

* * *

_Tomorrow Sora awakens._

_My long and drawn-out revenge has almost staggered to a halt thanks to a frightening revelation._

_To be more to the point, it is supposed that our entire world could have been conjured up by a single heart. In which case everything I had ever assumed about the heart is nothing more than a falsity._

_The boy that appeared some time after Roxas was placed into the 'world duplicate', Alexander, is the source of this strange phenomenon._

_It is unknown how many others are aware of his presence, but Riku and Naminé were not._

_When I thought I had nearly all of my mysteries solved, another crops up right under my nose. Here is another thing to ponder while everything is nearing completion._

_Positing theories at this time is useless. Maybe Alexander could supply the answers._

_Maybe he could also supply explanations for his fellow mysteries._

_Roxas, Ansem, Naminé…_

_They defy all logic, yet there they are: singular exceptions to the rule._

_I know now that the majority of the theories proposed by me and by Organisation XIII have no hand in determining the fate of existence. No… those hands belong to others who weave our tales from thin air._

_And within all this, a handful of strong-hearted individuals take the centre stage._

_Sora, Kairi, Riku._

_Ah, yes - Riku._

_Though his heart had its weaknesses, making it prone to darkness, he found support in the hope he discovered beyond suffering._

_This hope allowed him to stand his ground and turn the darkness in his heart from an enemy into his greatest weapon._

_When all this is over, he shall return with Sora to his island. I am sure of this; this story brings about the grand finale of Sora's adventure, and it would not be fitting for him to remain here, or be destroyed._

_That is because the theme of this story is not about revenge or due punishment. It is about the exceptions that make people unique triumphing above such commonplace elements as darkness, and leading the way to the light._

_And within this theme, there is definitely a place for Riku's heart._

_I do not see a place for myself within this end; however, to not follow my role through to the finish would likely bring about other events, ones not intended by our creators._

_Or by Alexander himself._

_He seems determined to make things run their proper course, as best as they can while he is present. He does not realise how much of a difference a single voice – or, indeed, a single heart – can make._

_Dear King, my friend!_

_I believe that, at some point in time, you will come across these, my truthful accounts._

_Take note of Alexander, if you have not already, and do not attempt to solve his mystery. Such a thing is only for those more knowledgeable than us._

_How I wish I could have chatted with you again. Maybe I will, but I would rather let that surprise me._

_I was a fool, obsessed with revenge and researching things I could not hope to understand._

_Forgive me._


	6. Fiery

**Set during:** Sinister Sundown (Chapter 19)

**Summary:** Rewrite of scenes 3 and 5. Axel is smarter than Alex ever thought he was.

* * *

"What a romantic story!" Olette remarked, clasping her hands together. Kairi nodded a little lazily; her journey through the darkness had been a rough one, and she was a little exhausted from the run.

Pence shrugged. "If you stick around, Sora's bound to show up," he reasoned.

"Yeah…" Hayner leaned back on the boiler. "He's gotta be coming back. He and Alex said they were… and you don't argue with that guy." He glanced up at the ceiling. The sun was shining warmly, as it always did, but today something just didn't feel right.

"Alex?" Kairi replied. "Why don't you argue with him?"

"What took you so long, Kairi?"

A dark portal appeared in one of the walls, and a tall, barely-hunched over figure emerged from the black. He fiddled with the edge of his hood for a second as he approached them.

"Somehow I just knew… you'd be here. I tell you, Kairi, you've got a lot of guts, jumping right into the darkness like that."

His steps were light and graceful, almost like a dancer's in their quality, but it didn't stop him from intimidating the group. Nevertheless, Hayner ran forward ready for a fight. He was met with a shove to the side, sending him on the floor. Pence attempted the same, only to be dodged and then pushed onto his face. Olette backed away worried, although she stayed as close to Kairi as she could. The princess in question was immobilised; what was it this guy kept coming back for?

With the stronger two of the group attempting to get up off the ground from that particularly hard strike and the girls being without any means to defend themselves (Olette having never been interested in fighting, and Kairi not being the type to strike out at any being with a human face) it really didn't look good.

Then, just as he got a hand on her shoulder, a fourteen-year-old boy nearly tore his way through the rag covering the entrance. "You stay away from her!" he yelled, calling the Lockshield into his hand and hurrying between the two. Kairi blinked.

Hayner forced himself to his feet immediately. "I told her we didn't argue with you!" he exclaimed.

"You told her what exactly?" Alex replied, frowning.

"So you'd be…" He looked back at her. The redheaded girl was just under his height, and had very warm purple eyes. Seeing her was almost like being back home with his family all together… It was the same kind of feeling that had pervaded him when meeting Belle and Jasmine, but with Kairi it was just a little more intense. Maybe it was because those two had both been around in the American consciousness for longer and had less of an effect on him, or because Kairi was a main character here.

And standing right in front of him was another Organisation member who was certainly close enough to hurt him… but too interested in what was going on to try anything first. Axel was a very odd creature to look at, with his thin waist and broad shoulders and hips, and he certainly towered over them. He had a long, sharp face and a pair of teardrop tattoos under his eyes. The cold look in those green irises was nothing less than frightening.

Shaking his head (this was no time to get worked up about meeting two fictional characters) he began to bark orders at the Twilight Town gang. "Hayner, Olette, you guys take Kairi up to the train station! Pence, you head down to the Sandlot and take Sora up the same way! Me…" He glared. "I'm fighting him."

Before she could object, Olette grabbed Kairi's hand and pulled her out of the spot ("Sora? He's here!?"). Hayner stuck there for a second to help Pence up, and then met Alex's eyes. They stared at each other, before the blond of the pair gave a brief nod, and hurried out with his friend, the two parting just past the gate.

_You think you can handle it on your own?_

_Yeah. I'm a lot stronger than I was before._

Axel whipped around. "So you're that kid Xemnas has been hamming it up about?" he asked, summoning one of his chakram to swing around a finger. Alex braced himself… but nothing happened.

"Hey, don't act like I'm going to give the same treatment as Vexen got," the Nobody remarked. "I certainly knew him much longer that I did you, Alex." He paused. "Alex. A-L-E-X. Swap the second and last letters around and you get my name. Is that why he's sticking with you?"

"…What?"

"Oh, you know exactly what I'm talking about. You always have." The man hung his head. "Straight from day one. And that's what got the boss so worked up. So he gave orders to find you and test your strength. So that's what we've been doing so far. And then we find out you're with Sora. And suddenly…"

The chakram stopped spinning.

"…you're a bit of a danger to us. Can't let you tell Sora all about what's going on." He turned back to him, grip on his weapon tightening. "And I finally managed to get a job that wasn't icky, too…"

"…" Alex shook his head. "…No. I don't know what you're talking about."

Axel crossed his arms, eyes closing. "Is that so?" There was a brief silence, the boy still in a stiff fighting stance, while he himself conjured up his other chakram to hold by a spike. "I've heard things in those meetings: that you're not meant to be here - I certainly noticed that immediately; that you have impossible knowledge of the world – and do you _ever_, kiddo; and that it's all because you ended up creating us. Everything around us came from you. Your light was nearly wasted putting this place together… You nearly became a Heartless, just from making them exist." There was a chuckle that was anything but nice. "What a waste of concentration."

The Lockshield wielder placed his hands on his hips. "Right now, I'm not even sure what happened. I know I got here, and I know it took a lot of my light. But you can't just declare me creator god. I've had enough of that. I just want to help Sora."

"Heh…" The Flurry of Dancing Flames broke into a sick laugh. "Right! Right, that's exactly it! That's _just_ how I thought it'd be!" He flung his arms out to the side, bowed over. Flames began to creep up past his legs, and Alex stepped back in alarm. "Just disregard everything you've done… And all this time I was beating myself up…"

There was an explosion of fire, swallowing the entire room.

"_WHEN I SHOULD'VE JUST TAKEN IT OUT ON YOU_!"

The two chakram now flew at Alex's head, and he ducked, only to see them both vanish back into Axel's hands. The Nobody rushed forward brashly, creating a huge ring of flames around his body as he ran forward, Alex quickly dodging again and bringing up his shield to guard from the slashing attacks that the other began throwing.

Eventually they both locked in place, and Alex managed to push him off, running back for a second. "What on Earth are you talking about?"

"I'm talking-" A ball of flame was sent his way; he attempted to counter with a few hits, but was parried with ease, "-about all the things-" Three more, all protected against with Reflect, and Axel taking a tiny bit of damage, "you've forced him through!" A whole barrage fell on his head, and he was struck several times, charring his skin but doing nothing more serious than taking a small chunk out of his health bar. Axel took the short break to rush forward again and repeat his combo from before.

Alex found himself forced into the ground, but he hopped back up as fast as he could. "What, you think I wanted all that to happen to him?" he growled. "It's not like I wrote this."

"But you made it!" Yet again, the chakram flew at his head, and he ducked out into the main alley to avoid it, wincing when he heard the Sunset Terrace poster suddenly burst into flames. Behind him, Axel sauntered out through the gate, but it was hardly the same controlled walk that he had managed moments earlier – those footfalls were now loud and sharp. Alex almost swore the ground was breaking below them. "Why couldn't you force it to go some other way!? You created all this!"

Urgh… this was so annoying…! "I didn't even want to!"

"But you did! So change it! Right now!" Axel cried, his voice breaking. Those chakram he was handling were now set on fire, and were flung at him with all the force of an earthquake, both of them knocking him down before he could even try to defend. The strength of the attack left the weapons wedged into the floor on either side of the boy, but this was all to Axel's advantage – no need to hurt himself when he could just remote-detonate. "You have all the ability to!"

"I'm trying my hardest to change things now, you know!" Alex yelled, sitting up. That last move had almost knocked the air out of him; he was much too winded to move. Axel merely stood there. "I've gotten Kairi away from you and to Sora. I've stopped her from being kidnapped!"

"Just because I failed doesn't mean somebody won't pick up after me!" He raised his hand. "And they might not treat her the same way I would!"

"Then you could stop listening to the Organisation and take Kairi somewhere where she'll be safe instead!" Alex retorted bitterly. The part of the plot that had always confused him… maybe it was time for him to get his answers. "If you got smart and stopped following them-"

One of the chakram erupted into flames. "You have no idea." Then the other. "You have _no_ idea how much I want to do that. But Saix… he's just not on my side anymore." And then they suddenly… burned out. Alex looked wide-eyed between the two of them, burns running down his face and side and his skin covered in sweat. "I know what you want to tell me."

Alex blinked. "You mean, about how Ro-"

"All of that," Axel replied, waving his hand around a bit madly. "Roxas walked away from the Organisation because he understood… much quicker than I did… that they were bad people. I just kept seeing myself as the problem… Everybody kept walking away from me." Growling, he shook his head vigorously. "But then it just became more and more obvious. Those idiots, they don't realise what Xemnas is doing. They all honestly believe what he says…"

Another brief pause, yet again weighed down with all the anger Axel was currently exuding, and then Alex pushed himself up. Brushing himself off (thank God he was only covered in ashes rather than burned up), he began to speak. "I-"

"Save it."

"But-"

"No, really. Save it." The redhead let out a huge, empty sigh. "…Damn. Look at me. Why am I not listening to what people are telling me!? Roxas says he doesn't remember me, so I go and scare him off like that and look where that landed me. And you, just then. Your attempt at changing things involves just getting Kairi away from me… by throwing _yourself_ in. Man… It couldn't have been more obvious, huh…"

Alex rubbed his forehead, coming to a realisation. "You're…" he hesitated, but Axel didn't interrupt him this time. "You're an idiot."

Axel sighed again. "I know." He glanced down at his boots, leaning back against the wall. "You're just doing the best you can, aren't you?" His fingers snaked under the collar of his coat and he scratched there for a second.

"I'm sorry. If I did create this world, it was by accident. I had no control over what past was implemented and I still don't." Alex looked around. "In fact, there's still a lot I really don't know about. But… I don't think it's right to change what's already happened. If that's how it is, then that's how it is. The only change I should want to make is to the here and now. And even then…"

Axel raised his head.

"Even then… there's a lot I can't mess about with. I could've done hundreds of things that would have changed the future. But the story I know…" Alex looked over at the sun, still hanging low in the orange sky. "It's the only way to a happy ending that I can think of."

"…Am I not in this happy ending?" The question took Alex by surprise, and he whipped around. "Aren't I allowed to have one?"

It was hard to think of what to say. A false move or bad phrasing could screw up everything. "What kind of ending would be a happy one for you?"

At that point, Axel couldn't help but look him in the eye. "Well, one with Roxas _would_'ve been nice."

"It's not like I could tell him what to do…"

But at that point, Number VIII had vanished completely, and a group of Dusks swarmed around Alex. Biting his lip, he brought the Lockshield up to block an attack, and countered with a sharp swing. The rest of them began to swarm.

But Nobodies were hardly what he had on his mind at the moment. Axel had made sure of that.


	7. Awaken

**Set during:** Sinister Sundown (Chapter 19)

**Summary:** Roxas makes a deal with someone who feels remarkably familiar to him.

* * *

A pair of clunky black shoes clunked across the stained glass ground, and a large Keyblade dragged behind them. The world had been gradually forming around him as he paced back and forth. Ever since that first sight of...

..._Him_.

He didn't... loathe him, per say. Sora was hardly loathable. No, he just mostly found him in contempt. The guy, whether he had intended to or not, had stolen his livelihood. He hadn't noticed it, when it was first offered to him... Heck, he'd felt even a little Messiah-ish, sacrificing himself for a greater good that he didn't quite understand yet. But now... now he knew what he was doing.

He'd heard voices, in the early hours. Familiar ones. His best friends.

He'd called out, with tears streaming down his face, only to fail to be answered. He had _screamed_ at them.

The memories, afterwards, had slowly drained back. The noises of the outside floated, turned into words that he soon realised he didn't understand the meaning of, and so ceased to really become anything useful. The hate, meanwhile, had soon flooded him.

All these people... he could've met them himself. He could've had a journey of his own. Why was it Sora who got to play?

Why was it this little _kid_ of a teenager got to be the one?

He threw the blade down onto the ground and sat, legs hanging over the side of the station. He stared down at them and the black fabric that currently covered them.

Inside here, the Organisation coat had sort of... grown over him. At first, he'd been scared, but then he'd realised — it just came with the memories of being there, part of them. It'd crawled up his legs and around his body and then the hood had covered his head, and he was completely shielded in a time of pain and abuse.

Lost friendship too. He missed Axel. Even though the last thing he'd done was kill him. And the last thing he'd said in his right mind was that he didn't care. But that was just because Nobodies couldn't care. And that's what they both were... right?

It felt like a big lie.

And then, for the first time, Roxas heard something in this place: _another's footsteps_.

He lept to his feet, both of his blades appearing in his grasp this time, and charged down the centre, getting away from the quite frankly dangerous edge. There was something green in the middle, something armoured and _green_ and something he somehow hated the look of-

He shot right through it and stopped just before he stumbled.

"_Whoops_! Sorry," a voice he vaguely recognised from outside responded. "Didn't quite see me there, didja?"

He turned again, and glared. There was a boy about his age standing there, decked out in a full set of plate armour. A pair of piercing green eyes were set in his pale face.

The stranger waved a hand smoothly. "Hi there."

Roxas adjusted his grip.

"You know, this is somewhat exciting," he rambled on. "I'm not _all_ of him, but still. The joy of meeting a fictional character in the flesh and blood! Well, whatever passes for flesh and blood in here, anyway. And, don't mind me but, I'm not currently in it."

Roxas weighed the Oathkeeper in his hands, considering how easy it would be to throw.

"You see, I can't take form inside somebody else's heart all cleanly," he explained. "This is just a projection."

"_Who are you_!?" Roxas yelled.

The stranger took a bow. "My name is Joumae," he replied. "And I have a deal for you."

Roxas raised an eyebrow, but didn't untense his arms. "Go on."

The mysterious Joumae smirked broadly. "I can get you in contact with Sora. Maybe even for a fight. I have just two provisions for you." He held up his hand again, and the index finger first. "One, you have to let me wake you up." Then the middle finger. "And two, you have to fight somebody else too. My complete self."

There was something about Joumae that not only felt off, but familiar. It wasn't just the armour suit, which hit Roxas in more of a conceptual fashion rather than literally, but the guy... he reeked of darkness.

There was something oddly familiar about the concept of a man in armour who reeked of darkness.

But that wasn't quite the thing that he'd prefer to concentrate on at this moment. "Wake me up?" he echoed.

"Well, right now, you're not awake," Joumae replied.

The thoughts and possibilities hit him like a potato sack to the face. He wasn't awake? Was this dreaming, then? Was this whole situation not real? He used to have dreams, in Twilight Town, of Sora, garbled dreams that made no sense — was he in another of these? It had to be. The digital world, the pod, the Nobodies, even all of the memories currently attacking and consuming him. They _had_ to be dreams. They had to be.

Right?

"...I can see that right now I'm gonna have to let you down," the green-eyed man said, glancing him over. "You're still inside Sora."

Roxas attacked the floor in rage. Joumae rubbed his forehead. "That's not the whole story. You see, you are stuck inside Sora, but you're stuck deeper down than you should be. You should be just as mobile as I am, just as conscious of the outside world. But yet, here you are, just hiding in the dark. That's not right. Do you even have access to Sora's data? Sora's memories? You're part of him, but you're closed off.

"That's where I can come in, luckily. You see..." He started to approach Roxas. "I have the key to getting you out of here. It's pretty simple - all I have to do... is work with your connections."

The blond was becoming understandably testy right now. "...Connections?"

"Right, right..." Joumae set his hand by his side for once. "Everybody forms connections. I'd say 'friends', but that'd require a heart, and we're — heh-" He tapped the chestplate of his armour. "-we're both kinda lacking our own."

"..._Axel_ and I were _friends_," Roxas muttered, turning away and walking off to the edge of the platform again.

"Right, right, I know _that_. I know everything about that." Joumae coughed. "That's related to this whole thing, you know. Axel. He was a pretty damn important connection. Alex and I know that, of course."

"Alex...?" Roxas glanced back.

Joumae reached up to his helmet. "My complete self. He kinda looks like this-" He took it off, revealing a spiky mess of green hair, "-but less green. Kinda ironic - I'm a Master, but he's a total _greenhorn_. Kid should be easy to take down. I'll be joining you in this endeavour of course, but-"

"Joining me?"

"You ask a lot of questions, you know that?" replied the projection, and Roxas rolled his eyes. Of course he was asking questions. This guy was the one with all the apparent answers. "Look, you're not gonna be able to drag him inside this heart or anything on your own. You'd only be strong enough to pull Sora in at best. Alex is a whole different heart — I'm from it, and you're gonna _need_ me to pull him in."

Roxas crossed his arms, and considered what he was seeing and hearing. This strange boy with the ability to project himself inside here, had jumped in here, told him he was dreaming, and wanted him to come out and fight Sora, with the caveat that he'd have to fight somebody else who he was being assured was not in any way powerful. And all he had to do was wake him up from the dream.

This fight was tempting. This _person_ was not. The darkness was so bad he could almost taste it, and somebody like that would have to have some kind of ulterior motive for this. How was he really benefitting from this? Sure, he wanted a fight with this complete self of his, but it sounded like he was strong enough to pull that off any time.

What did he _really_ want?

"...I accept," he said calmly. Being a Nobody had its perks, such as being able to drop all of your emotions. Or at least knowing how to sound like that.

Joumae clapped. "Excellent! Now all I have to do is wake you up, right?"

Roxas gestured to him. "It's _your_ plan," he answered simply. "If you don't wanna go through with it, then don't come here making deals in the first place."

"Don't worry, this'll be easy," Joumae replied. "You already just told me about one of your most important connections, didn't you? Axel, Flurry of Dancing Flames. Outside right now, Alex and Sora should be talking to a girl named Kairi. Alex just saved her from being kidnapped by Axel."

The Oblivion's wrought metal tooth found itself at Joumae's throat. "_Axel_!?" screamed the thirteenth, pushing the stranger backwards via the stomach with the Oathkeeper. "_Axel is dead_!"

Joumae blinked, and roughly pushed the Oblivion aside with an open palm, before breaking into a laugh. "You honestly thought you were powerful enough to kill that guy? Kid, you're amazing!" he cackled. "Of course Axel's not dead! He bailed on the fight! Far as I can tell, you basically _broke_ him!"

Roxas dropped the Keyblades, staring down at Joumae's feet.

"But yeah, you know what? Axel is alive. Axel just tried to kidnap a girl. Alex saved her. After, you know, the two of them had a bit of a talk." Some green hair was brushed away from his face by a pair of spindly pink fingers. "Axel's helping Sora. If only you could get out..." Joumae shrugged. "Then he'd be helping _you_ instead, wouldn't he...?"

Roxas closed his eyes. There was something awful boiling inside of him. Crawling up him. Like the Organisation coat, but... somehow much, much worse. This wasn't guilt and pain... this was like fire, blazing out of control, threatening to burn him up.

"...Was that not enough?" Joumae mused, stroking his chin. "Why don't we continue with this, then-"

"This Alex... he's helping Sora too."

Joumae looked away. "Yeah... Sora's opening the door. Alex has gotta lead the way to it. Something like that. I dunno, something I'm fishing out of our shared memories."

"But..." For a second, the fire stopped. Roxas opened his eyes and stared straight at Joumae. "There are a lot of people helping Sora."

"Mmhmm."

"So why is it _him_ I've got to fight?"

Another eerie laugh that crawled up the back of Roxas' neck and made his hair stand further on end. "Okay, let's face it..." Joumae said in a low voice, "I... really have to _play_ with him. There's some instinct in me that makes me want to _hurt_ him... I _welcome_ it. If I'm the darkest part of this kid, which — by the way this world works — means I'm the worst part of him, then I know full well the sorts of things he thinks when he thinks nobody is around to hear. _I am those things_."

'The darkest part'... that explained why he stank to high hell of the stuff.

"But, of course, that isn't your fetish," he continued, "so why don't I get to the good stuff? You know how those kids in Twilight Town were seeing Sora off?"

He remembered. It was impossible to forget.

"I think there's a section of Alex's memories that you really want to see." He held up what looked like a glowing bubble. It reminded Roxas a little bit of magic. "Take a look."

There were a few seconds of silence, and then Roxas reached out and grabbed it.

All of a sudden, his mind filled with images, noises, smells, feelings... eating ice cream on the tower with people his age, sharing photographs, running errands for munny, competing in the Struggle tournament, holding a blue orb to the sunset...

Memories almost exactly like the ones he'd _made in the Simulated Twilight Town_...!

"That fake life you lived? Alex _really_ lived it. He did nearly everything you did. And those friends of yours? Were really _his_."

The fire raged again, climbing up his throat and nearly forcing him over.

"Feel that?"

He clutched at himself, as more visuals washed over him. He saw... people... Donald and Goofy... a girl with red hair - Kairi - and across from him...

"_Rise and shine_, Roxas..."


End file.
